1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a work vehicle adapted to mount a front work implement operated under a forward facing posture and a rear work implement operated under a reverse facing posture.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 6,851,495 B2 discloses a work vehicle operated by a driver seated under a forward facing posture. This work vehicle includes a direction switch for selecting a forward traveling and a reverse traveling; and a lever operational tool for adjusting a creeping speed. At a time of a work using a backhoe mounted at a vehicle body rear portion, a driver can use the direction switch and the lever operational tool to cause the vehicle body to travel forwardly or reversely at a desired speed. The direction switch is a a seesaw type momentary switch, and its selected operational position is transmitted to a control device. An operational position of the lever operational tool is detected by a potentiometer and transmitted to the control device. The driver will operate the direction switch to an operational position corresponding to a desired traveling direction, and also will operate the lever operational tool to a desired speed position. Then, the control device causes the vehicle body to travel in the direction (forward or reverse) based on the direction switch at the speed based on the operational position of the lever operational tool.
JP2008-056022A discloses a tractor in which a driver seated under a reverse facing posture can cause it to travel either forwardly or reversely, by operating a main switch and a sub switch constituting a shuttle switch at one time. The main switch includes a forward switch and a reverse switch that are disposed in close vicinity of each other. When it is desired to cause the vehicle body to travel forwardly or reversely with the driver being seated under the reversely facing posture, the driver will operate one of the forward and reverse switches and the sub switch simultaneously.
Forward/reverse traveling operations under the reverse facing posture are “special” operations in comparison with forward/reverse traveling operations under the forward facing posture, so it is desired that these forward/reverse traveling operations under the reverse facing posture should be simple operations. Further, a control scheme reflecting a driver's intension distinctly will also be desirable. However, with the above-described conventional state of art, there are provided two switches for the forward/reverse traveling operations under the reverse facing posture, and these switches are provided independently of each other and spaced apart from each other. Thus, for effecting forward or reverse operations under the reverse facing posture, independent operations corresponding respectively to the two switches are required for the driver. Moreover, respecting a time-sequence operation procedure for the plurality of switches, explicit disclosure relating thereto found in JP2008-056022A only discloses that the plurality of switches are operated simultaneously.
In view of the above-noted state of art, there is a need for a work vehicle that allows forward/reverse operations under the reverse facing posture to be effected in a more distinct manner, that is, through a time-sequence operational procedure with the driver's distinct awareness thereof and also in a more simple manner.